SweetPea, 2019-present
Background 
SweetPea is non-dairy, plant-based, planet-friendly, and unbelievably creamy. Our goal? Introduce SweetPea as a national frozen dessert brand to build awareness, recognition, and anticipation among the target demographic.
To do this, we needed to focus on markets where the product would be first available via local media relations, geographic targeted social advertising, and other localized efforts to increase social media and influencer reach.
Problem
We knew we had to build brand awareness, generate and convert new leads in the Raleigh market. But how do we focus on localized efforts when we’re not local?
Solution
Enter the Mix+Shine marketing team. We knew that a Raleigh takeover could get the city buzzing about SweetPea and scooping it off the shelf.
The Raleigh Market Activation for Lowes Foods was a marketing campaign with the goals of building brand awareness, generating and converting new leads in the Raleigh market. To achieve these goals we planned the following marketing activities –
- Social media targeting
- Social media giveaway
- Influencer outreach
- Samplings at local businesses + coupon distribution
- Sampling events hosted by local businesses + coupon distribution
- Samplings at Lowes Foods locations + coupon distribution
- Content creation in settings easily identified with their location
Over 3 days, we lived like the locals.
We established our presence in Raleigh through social media, taking photos at identifiable locations in Raleigh, with call-to-action and “where to find us” copy inviting influencers to come taste-test.
This helped us secure significant exposure from in-market influencers on social media, as they visited our tastings. Tastings were held –
- At Lowes Foods locations twice daily, close to point of purchase
- Zen Succulent, a plant shop with a mostly-local following of 46,000 people
- VODA, a high end clothing store attracting Millennial women
By handing out coupons and inviting everyone to try SweetPea out for themselves, we were able to drive traffic to our product in Lowes Foods.
In addition to these coordinated, promoted tastings, we staged pop-by tastings at every turn, to stellar reception –
- A local coffee shop where the owner insisted we contact him so he could get Must Do Cold Brew in his coffee shop—hello affogato.
- Plant-forward restaurants had their staff gather around before dinner service to taste SweetPea. We captured real-time reactions at these vegan hotspots and shared live on social media.
- In the evenings, we took local breweries by storm. This is where we were able to get a large volume of sample distribution, quickly.
In just a few days, we had our name on everyone’s lips, with brewery patrons asking if we were the SweetPea they had been hearing about.
But we weren’t just hustlin’ at our events and pop-ups. When we weren’t out and about in Raleigh, we were creating content. In fact, one of our top reels (with over 3,882 views) was captured there in our Airbnb’s kitchen.
Result
“I just had an opportunity to taste SweetPea ice cream. I can tell you without a doubt that this is one of the best ice creams I’ve ever tasted and it’s not cream, there is no dairy in this at all. You will be astounded by the flavor of this. Phenomenal product and I guarantee you are going to see it in our restaurant very very soon.” —Brian Simpson, Good Day Good Night, Plant-Based Restaurant
We saw a 25% growth rate on our social accounts during the time we were in Raleigh with 236,462 impressions. We started the month at 51 profile views and ended our time in Raleigh with 1,272 profile views.
The giveaway post resulted in a reach of 611 accounts and the initial Raleigh post resulted in a reach of 665 accounts (65% of both reaches were new followers).
This giveaway continues to be one of the top posts of the last year—with our “We’re in Raleigh” post a close second.
The reels created on the trip had a combined total of 9,288 views.
But enough about social—not only did this trip increase our social media presence in a big way, but the foot traffic to the local retailer was also invaluable as was the boost to our brand awareness.
We saw a 270% increase in sales during the week of our market visit across Lowes locations. We then maintained a 30 percent increase for the following 6 weeks, and continue to thrive in the market.
Going forward our team has plenty of contacts for future Raleigh activations, including Lowes store leaders, in-market venues and regional influencers.
“Aside from the engagement we saw on social from our visit, we were able to see a quantifiable sales lift from the market activation. Compared to the 2 weeks prior to our visit, we saw a 270% lift in sales during the week of our market visit. Even more impressive was the continued, incremental sales lift in the weeks that followed – we maintained a 30% lift in sales 6 weeks after the event compared to the 2 weeks prior.
Overall, we felt this event was a huge success for creating brand awareness, driving trial, and promoting repeat purchases. The retailer was very pleased with the results and impressed with our investment into this market to promote the brand and create sales. This helps continue to foster a beneficial partnership between brand and retailer.” —Heather, Co-Owner, SweetPea
